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Video plays on mobile devices continue to increase and Ooyala is forecasting that, by the middle of 2018, more than 60% of all video starts will occur on mobile devices.

The Q3 2017 edition of Ooyala’s Global Video Index (you can download it here) showed the share of smartphone and tablet video plays increased for the 24th consecutive quarter, making up more than 58% of all starts, a record.

Sling TV is planning to offer its first-ever pay-per-view (PPV) event, the much anticipated UFC grudge match that features a pair of light heavyweights. UFC 214: Cormier v. Jones 2 features current champ Daniel Cormier against ex-champ Jon Jones who last met in 2015 at UFC 182.

DirecTV Now viewers who signed up for AT&T’s new streaming hoping to watch the NFL on local Fox channels were disappointed last weekend when they discovered the content was blacked out. They may not be much happier this week if they planned to watch a game on their mobile devices.

The world’s most popular European football club, Real Madrid, is setting course on a content distribution strategy that may help provide a roadmap for other sports looking to turn social media into more than an exchange of pithy comments.

The 2016 Emirates Melbourne Cup, one of Australia’s most followed Thoroughbred horse races, will be streamed to a global audience thanks to a deal between the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) and Twitter.

The partnership for the Nov. 1 race, the richest two-mile handicap in the world, is the first live-streaming deal Twitter’s made for a major event outside the U.S., although it did stream this year’s Wimbledon matches after they were completed.

The NFL’s experiment with Twitter and Thursday Night Football is in high gear and getting pretty solid reviews, so it should come as no surprise that the other social media site, Facebook, isn’t planning to sit on the sidelines as live sports becomes a significant part of social media strategy.

A couple of buffers, a bit of delay (maybe 30 seconds?), but Twitter’s stream from its inaugural NFL Thursday Night Football game played better than the Buffalo Bills, who lost – for the record -- to the New York Jets, 37-31.

Picture quality on an iPad, connected TV (via Apple TV) and on my phone was solid, even when playing at the same time. And, surprise, there were no hoops to jump through to watch the game, no pay-TV authorization, no logging in, nada.

Planning to watch NFL Thursday Night Football on Twitter? You may actually be able to see the game now that Twitter has rolled out a new app that lets you watch on the big screen… assuming you have an Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV or Microsoft Xbox One connected to said screen.

The company rolled out the free app this week as it prepares to stream the first of its 10 scheduled Thursday night games, starting with the N.Y. Jets and the Buffalo Bills

For the first time since 1996, the Summer Olympics will fall squarely in the daytime for viewers in the United States. That – and our growing reliance on smartphones – means that this Olympics likely will be the most “mobile” games ever.

With the bulk of events occurring during the workday, fans are going to be spending a lot of time watching on smartphones while they commute to work and back, as well as on computers and tablets during the workday.

Back in May, Amazon hired James DeLorenzo – who previously ran digital video for Sports Illustrated – to head up its Amazon Prime Video sports initiative. Now, it’s looking for a principal content acquisition manager for the unit.

In a posting on Amazon’s website, the job description for the position with the Amazon Channels business asks: